Tertiary Education Strategy? Tick Off!

In its fourth report, released last
month, TEAC had gone a long way towards some concrete
suggestions on how to move forward in tertiary education,
National's Tertiary Education spokesperson, Maurice
Williamson said today.

"It's unfortunate that TEAC's
Minister has rejected those suggestions and, instead,
released a report today that tells us nothing more than that
he 'likes education'. Taxpayers should be asking for their
money back.

"For example, the draft Tertiary Education
Strategy states that the Government is going to 'develop the
skills and knowledge New Zealanders need for our knowledge
society', but what does that actually tell us?

The
Strategy document is nothing more than a tome of touchy,
feely platitudes which concludes by asking New Zealanders to
assist the Minister in setting out tertiary education policy
for the next five years by ticking a series of
boxes.

"After nine years in Opposition and two years in
Government, Mr Maharey still hasn't told us where he wants
to take tertiary education. A box-ticking approach to
policy development is a farce.

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